Measles Tops 900, Ebola Passes 8,000, and Cancer Deaths Keep Falling

Let's start in Pennsylvania.

As of today, September 28th, Pennsylvania has 903 cases of measles.

That's up 68 cases since last Wednesday.

176 people have been hospitalized, and Pennsylvania has reported four measles-related deaths.

All of those deaths occurred in people who are not vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the CDC's national number, which lags the states because of its reporting schedule, stands at 3,659 confirmed cases through September 24th.

that already makes 2026 considerably worse than last year.

And Pennsylvania now accounts for roughly one quarter of the country's reported measles cases.

There remains this particular and peculiar disagreement about deaths.

Pennsylvania says four.

The CDC has so far verified one measles death nationally while it reviews how these deaths should be classified.

Years in the business and the CDC is reviewing it because one Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thinks we should.

Now, cause of death classification can be complicated.

People have underlying diseases.

They can have several things happen at once.

Epidemiology should always, of course, look carefully at those cases.

But Pennsylvania investigated these four deaths and calls them measles-related.

And while Washington works on definitions, measles keeps spreading.

This is one of the most contagious viruses that we know.

You can walk into a room up to two hours after somebody with measles has left and still be exposed.

And once it finds a population without enough immunity, it spreads remarkably well.

The good news, and it remains extraordinarily good news, is that two doses of MMR, the vaccine, provide about 97% protection against measles.

We know how to prevent this disease.

Pennsylvania knows how to do that also.

The state has been pushing vaccination hard, running clinics, doing outreach, and making the vaccine easier to obtain.